Man found guilty of pub murder after second trial

A MAN has been convicted of murdering a father of five in a pub – four years after being found guilty of his attempted murder.

David Hay, 48, smashed a pool cue over the head of Kenneth Dick, 45, and caused catastrophic brain injuries.

In 2009, Hay was jailed for ten years after a jury found him guilty of the attempted murder of Mr Dick, who had survived the attack in Blazers Fun Pub in Leven, Fife, but was left severely impaired.

Then, about 21 months after the assault, Mr Dick died and Hay was taken to trial again – this time on a charge of murder.

He was the first person in living memory to face a murder charge in such circumstances.

A jury at the High Court in Edinburgh returned a majority guilty verdict yesterday and Hay will receive a life sentence.

The judge, Lady Scott, also has to set the minimum period he must serve before becoming eligible for parole, and she called for a background report on Hay before sentencing him. The case was continued until next month.

Mr Dick’s family wept as the verdict was announced. His eldest daughter, Jennifer Dick, 26, said: “It has been horrible, the way it has dragged on. People have never been able to move on.

“On the morning my dad passed away, the police came and said they were putting in for a retrial. They said it was rare but they were going to go for it. And we are glad to get justice, because attempted murder was not adequate.”

Ms Dick described her father as “a great dad, a cool dad” for whom things had been looking up because he was about to start full-time employment.

“I had just given birth to my daughter, and he had been really looking forward to being a grandad. To have that snatched away and never see any other grandchildren or walk his daughters down the aisle, for no reason, is just mad.”

Mr Dick spent the full 21 months between the attack and his death in hospital, but he was barely recognisable.

“I lost my dad that day [the day of the attack]. In hospital he couldn’t speak, he couldn’t move. When he came round, he thought he was 17 without kids. It was like it was not him,” said Ms Dick.

Hay, of Methil, Fife, denied attacking Mr Dick on 11 February, 2009, and incriminated a friend at the time, Brian Burt, 51.

In evidence, Mr Burt said the claim was “lies”. He described seeing Hay strike Mr Dick with the thick end of a pool cue.

Sandra Hunter, 42, said she was playing a gaming machine when she heard Hay say that no-one was going to speak to him like that, and she saw Mr Burt holding him back and Mr Dick lying on the floor.

She told the barman, Alan Laverty, to phone for an ambulance and he appeared to make a call, but he had been worried about the pub’s licence.

“I said we couldn’t move him. Laverty wanted him outside. ‘Get him out the f****** pub or I will throw him out’ were his exact words. He was very irate. He already had the mop and bucket out while three of us were trying to get him out the pub,” Ms Hunter said.

At the previous trial, Laverty pleaded guilty to trying to defeat the ends of justice, and was jailed for 18 weeks.